Inside Cagliari: Nicola’s Tactics, Transfer Window and Best Players

It was a bold choice to make Davide Nicola the manager of Cagliari.

Nicola is one of Italy’s great relegation survival experts, having saved the likes of Crotone, Torino and Salernitana in remarkable circumstances. However Nicola only tends to work his magic when coming into a team mid-season, when asked to lead a team from the start, things tend to go wrong.

So far, it’s unclear if Nicola will get the better of his own history, or whether it’ll repeat itself.

There have been some bad displays, such as the home humiliation against Napoli and the 2-0 defeat by Empoli a week later, but there have also been encouraging performances, in the shape of the 1-1 draw with Juventus in Turin and the pulsating 3-3 draw with Milan before the November international break.

Claudio Ranieri guided the Rossoblu to safety last season with several games to spare, but since then the Sardinian side have lost some key players. Midfield workhorse Nahitan Nandez departed for Saudi Arabia, while Eldor Shomrodov and Andrea Petagna all returned to the home clubs, denying Cagliari valuable Serie A experience.

Goals have been difficult to come by for Cagliari this season. Twelve games into the season and no player has scored more than two, and this is something Nicola touched on after the thrilling draw with Milan.

“When you don’t score goals it’s difficult to get points,” said Nicola, while also highlighting concerns defensively. “We must learn to concede less goals and be more concrete, details make all the difference.”

With the third-worst defensive record in the league, Nicola will be hoping for more solidity as Christmas approaches.

Transfers: It was a low-key summer from Cagliari in terms of transfers in. The big signing was midfielder Nadir Zortea from Atalanta, with the Italian costing €5m. Defender Sebastiano Luperto also signed from Empoli for €3.5m.

Meanwhile, Italian midfielder Mattia Felici was plucked from Serie C side Feralpisalo for around €2m, which will help the Lombardy side after their relegation from Serie B last season. Gianluca Gaetano was also sent back to Sardinia for a second loan spell from Napoli. 

Albanian stopper Alen Sherri was brought in from Egnatia Rrogozhine for around €300k. However these three deals were the sum total of Cagliari’s spending in the summer, with Nicola pretty much  handed much of the same side as Ranieri had in 2023-24.

Best performers: Colombian defender Yerry Mina has been solid in defence despite Cagliari’s lack of clean sheets, while Luperto has also been a steady presence at the back.

Right-back Gabriele Zappa, author of those two goals against Milan, has also been impressive throughout the season, while striker Roberto Piccoli has also shown promise.

Tactics: Nicola has, like most Italian coaches, been fluid in terms of tactics depending on the opposition. He’s mainly alternated between a 3-5-2, which he used mostly at the beginning of the season, and a 4-2-3-1 that has been the tactic of choice as of late.

However he has also gone back to basics during some games. Against Bologna, for example, Nicola utilised a 4-4-2 system, but following the 2-0 defeat, it was dropped. In the 2-1 defeat by Lazio and the thrilling draw with Milan, Nicola reverted to a 4-2-3-1. 

Yet with a desire for his team to be more defensively solid, it remains to be seen whether he will continue with the system, or switch to a formation more defensive in order to stop the flow of goals.